Valteri shook his head in denial. “That’s not a seal.”
Ariel let out a bitter laugh. “Aye, love. It is.”
He staggered back as he stared down at it.
“Do you remember when it was given to you?”
He shook his head as he tried to remember. “Nay. It’s always been there.” His head spun at what she was telling him. “Does this mean that my twin would have shared my powers?”
“Aye.”
“Then how did he die?”
“I know not. ’Tis possible the binding spell was done before you were born or upon your arrival in this world and that could have killed him.”
Valteri sat down as he tried to come to terms with the story she told.
If he dared to believe it.
The things she spoke of …
They were unnatural.
Yet they made sense.
Running his hand through his hair, he grappled with her disclosure.
“Are you all right?”
“I need air.”
Ariel watched as Valteri left the room. She started to go after him, but in spite of all the drink he’d imbibed, he seemed rather stable on his feet.
He’ll be fine.
Besides, she had preparations she needed to finish.
You have to do this.
More and more, she felt as if time was running out for them.
Hours later, Ariel crept silently through the hall, making sure everyone was asleep. She pressed her lips together, afraid that each trembling breath rattling in her chest might awaken a nearby sleeper.
This was her only chance to save Valteri. She must leave him behind, no matter how much her heart ached for him. No matter how much she yearned to remain by his side.
If she stayed, he’d die.
A man spoke in his sleep.
Ariel froze, her heart hammering in her ears. He turned on his side and began a steady snore. Releasing a quiet sigh of relief, she tiptoed toward the door.
How she wished Valteri had sought their chambers to sleep after he’d left to think about what she’d told him. But after hours of waiting, she’d given up hope of his return.
All Ariel could do now was pray he wasn’t sleeping in the stable.
She pushed open the hall’s door, flinching as a tiny squeak echoed, a squeak that sounded louder than thunder to her anxious ears. A nearby woman spoke in her sleep, but no one awoke enough to question her. Taking a deep breath for courage, she wedged herself out the door, then closed it tight.
Frigid winds whipped against her cheeks, numbing them before she’d taken no more than a few steps. An early, light snow fell against her face and hair. Ariel drew her fur-lined cloak tighter, trying to banish the cold from her body.
With any luck, the snow would cover her tracks and Valteri would never find her.
Pain swelled inside her breast, but she forced herself not to think on it. She must do this.
For both their sakes.
She entered the stable, then paused.
Damn her luck! Valteri lay just inside the first stall. In spite of her sense that told her to grab a horse and leave, she moved closer to him.
Through a crack in the planking, a rushlight shone, illuminating his handsome face.
Now that she knew who he was, she saw just how much he favored his father. They were almost identical. Same angle of brow. Same perfectly sculpted features.
The only difference was that Jaden had dark hair, and an aura of intolerance even thicker than Valteri’s.
Other than that, they could pass for twins.
But what tugged at her heart was how very vulnerable, so very lovable he looked while he slept.
Her body burned for him, for one last touch of his flesh against hers, but it could never be.
Closing her eyes, she savored the memory of his kiss.
If only she could stay with him, be his wife like a normal mortal woman, she’d gladly pay the price of her own soul.
But how long until the curse worked its treachery and she damned him forever?
A day? A week?
Every moment she spent near him, she jeopardized his soul.
His eternity.
And the fate of the entire world.
I could never be so selfish.
Noir would torture him unmercifully in Azmodea. Use him to breach the barrier into this world.
I have to stop them.
Holding that thought inside her heart, she forced her feet away from him and moved to take a horse. A gentle mare called to her as she neared the last stall.
“You’ll not harm me, will you?” she whispered.
The brown mare stared at her with gentle eyes.
Ariel smiled before reaching for a bridle. “You’ll have to help me,” she whispered in the lowest of tones, holding the bit to the animal’s teeth like she’d seen Wace and the groom do. “I’m not sure how this needs be done.”
The mare took it in her mouth.
Ariel stroked the mare’s nose, grateful she understood her, and worked the leather straps into their correct positions around the mare’s head.
With a wishful sigh, she glanced to the saddles, but decided against it. She doubted she could lift one, and even if she did, she had no idea of how to fasten it.
No need to risk an injury to herself or the horse, or waking Valteri with that.
Instead, she took a blanket from the wooden post, draped it over the mare’s spine, and led the animal out into the cold, lonely night.
Though she ached to look back at Valteri, she knew better than to try. A single glance in his direction could very well destroy her will to leave him.
Mounting the horse, she kicked her into a gallop.
Ariel expected the sentries to stop her at the gate, but instead they waved her through.
They were more interested in keeping people out than keeping them in.
Grateful for that, she rode for leagues before she slowed the mare’s pace. The horse snorted, and pranced as if suddenly skittish from some foreign scent. Soothing her with her touch, Ariel looked about to see what had her horse so upset.
“Leaving so soon?”
Demon stench filled her head and she struggled not to gag. “Go away!”
Belial laughed, then materialized in front of her. “Why would I listen to you?”
“Because you’re too weak to be out here.”
“Am I?”
That sent a shiver over her as she realized that he was stronger now.
How?
Belial started near the horse, but because his powers were renewed, the animal backed up, leery of what it smelled from him.
He smiled wickedly at her. “So what did you tell Valteri?”
“That I was mad.” While she didn’t believe in lying, she knew better than to tell this bastard the truth.
“Did he believe you?”
She shrugged with a nonchalance she didn’t feel, especially since she was lying. “Of course he did.”
“Aye, but he’s not like the others. Is he? He’s not so easy to deceive.”
By Thorn’s hairy toes, he knew. She could sense it with everything she had.
But on the off chance he didn’t, she decided to try and brazen it out. “You’re right. He denies his god. Therefore, he cannot believe in what we are. To do so would force him to believe in a god he cannot accept. Because if he accepted that his god lives then it would mean that his god had forsaken him and left Valteri to suffer. You of all things know he will never accept or believe that.”
Belial laughed. “Aye, and I need both your souls for Noir. So I cannot let you leave! You’re my key to his deliverance.”
No sooner had the words left his lips, than the mare bolted.
Ariel struggled with her terrified mount, holding tightly to the reins. Keeping her head low, she prayed.
Limbs and shrubs tore at her hair, her body, beating her until she throbbed with pain.
Forest animals scattered out of their way before they were trampled. They traveled on through the darkness and Ariel tried to see what obstacles lay before them, but the mare continued her furious run at a pace that prevented her from seeing anything.
She tightened her grip.
Out of nowhere, a large shadow appeared, its demon’s teeth snarling.
The mare shrieked then reared.
Ariel fell from the mare’s back and landed in the snow. A fierce pain filled her head before everything went black.
Rough hands shook Valteri awake. Cursing and knowing his squire would never be so stupid, he reached for the culprit’s throat, angered that anyone would awaken him in such a manner.
“Release me!” Belial snarled.
Out of sheer unexpected shock over the sound of the demonic thunder, Valteri let go. Had he doubted Ariel’s words before, that removed the last of it.
Nothing human could have made that infernal sound.
Now he knew exactly what he was dealing with. “Why are you here?”
“Ariel’s gone.”
His anger evaporated under a fierce wave of suspicion, as Valteri immediately suspected Belial of treachery. “What do you mean she’s gone?”
Belial’s face was a paragon of innocence, but he knew better. Only something foul would cause Ariel to leave the safety of their keep.
The demon had some part in this, he had no doubt, and if she were hurt because of Belial, then the demon would know what true hell was.
“I went to check on my sister,” Belial said innocently, lighting a small lantern close to Valteri’s side.
Valteri shielded his eyes against the sudden glare.
Belial hung it from a peg and handed Valteri his mail hauberk. “Since her newest outbreak of madness, I’ve been worried over her. I wanted to see if she still believed herself some otherworld creature, and when I entered her room, she was gone.”
Bullshit.
Worry and anger tore through Valteri as he shrugged his hauberk on. Where could she have gone, and why?
Worse, had this bastard done something with her to get back at him?
What was it that Ariel had told him last night? He was supposed to kill himself?
Was that Belial’s plan? Harm her? And in doing so think that he was so weak he’d harm himself in response?
Nay. He was prone to homicide, not suicide.
Scrambling to his feet, Valteri glanced about the stable. Though the horses were a bit unsettled, he had little trouble locating the one that was missing.
“Dammit!” he snarled. Had Ariel really left the safety of the hall on her own?
Why would she do something so stupid?
Because you’re too repugnant for her to bother with. Valteri flinched at the involuntary doubts that were never far from his mind.
But he quickly squelched his own stupidity. She didn’t see that part of him. It was why he loved her.
Love …
That single word made him flinch. Damn his heart for the weakness. For the betrayal.
If he could, he’d rip it out of his chest and stab it himself.
How dare it make him care for someone who could only bring him pain. He knew that as surely as he breathed air.
People were treacherous and disloyal. They plotted and they schemed. He knew that better than anyone.
Yet in spite of it all, he loved her, and for that he would be damned.
I’m the greatest fool ever born.
But more than that, he was Ariel’s fool.
“We must find her!” Belial insisted.
Valteri curled his lip at the demon, wanting to put him through the wall of the stable. He didn’t dare pursue her with that bastard on his heels. He needed to get rid of him first.
“Why should we seek her if, as you say, she left of her own accord?”
Belial’s jaw went slack. “But what if her mind has fled her again? Even now she could be lying in that storm, close to death.”
Now it was his turn to gape. “Storm, what storm?”
Belial threw open the stable door.
Oh dear God! Valteri swallowed at the swirling snowflakes that cascaded so thickly around that the air outside appeared as a solid white wall. Howling winds whipped the large snowflakes into a brutal dance until he could scarce see three inches before him.
What in the name of God and all his saints had she been thinking?
Ariel would never be able to survive such a storm. She wasn’t used to this world or its harshness. He had to find her.
Before they did.
Or before she died.